African Queer Autobiographics: Drama, Disclosure, and Pedagogy. (1st September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Osinubi, Taiwo
• Is Part Of: Auto/biography studies. Volume 35:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 749
• Page End: 770
• Publication Date: 2020-09-01
• Subjects: African autobiography -- queer pedagogy -- queer uncanny -- queer alienation -- sexual minorities; Autobiography -- Periodicals; Autobiography; Periodicals; 920.005
• DOI: 10.1080/08989575.2020.1766202
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0898-9575

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores the cultural politics and aesthetic forms of African life-writing anthologies that have recently become a platform for queer literary activism. Using Stories of Our Lives: Queer Narratives from Kenya as a case study, the author suggests that these emerging anthologies are vernacular theorizations of African queer conditions and represent important pedagogical tools. They disclose the conditions shaping emergent queer identities and demand reading strategies that transcend narrative transparency and verifiability. Readers must engage with the instances of failure, denial, and refused conciliation as grounds for queer pedagogies.